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The Brass Problem
Part One: A Monk’s Merc I walked down a path in a field, wine bottle clutched in my scale-covered hand. It had been over two hours since the Falkreath incident, and wine that the Elf-girl had given me was nearly empty. I suddenly noticed a group of… monks, I guess... ''standing around in the field. One of them saw me, and called out to me, attempting to draw me towards him. “You there, Kobold! We need your help!” I waved them off with a shake of my hand. The monk got desperate, so he tried again. “Please help us! There… There’s a reward in it for you!” That stopped me dead in my tracks. Using the heel of my foot, I slowly turned ''en pointe, ''until I was facing the monk. “What do you need, that you are so desperate for?” I asked. “Our city has been overrun, and our people are scared out of their wits.” The monk replied. “Sounds scary. What has been overrunning your city?” I said with a smirk. The monk hesitated, before speaking. “The living dead.” He said with a hushed tone of voice. I let out a cracked shriek. Before my enslavement, I had heard stories about the undead. Terrible stories… ones that would give me nightmares for weeks. I was afraid of the undead from the moment I heard about them, but to find out that they’re real? Well, that was too much for me to take. I decided to test the monk, to see if he was telling the truth. “The undead. Like, ''Zombies? …you’re screwing with me.” The monk let out a small chuckle. “I wish. The fog that came from the mountains turned the civilians of our lovely city into… I don’t know a better word for it than ‘zombies’. They aren’t rotting heaps of flesh like in the stories and tales, but just mindless drones, staggering around the City of Brass, attacking anyone that isn’t one of them.” I gaped in surprise. The City of Brass? As in, THE City of Brass? '' “Okay,” I said. “I’ll do it. I’ve heard legends about the City of Brass, how it’s a paradise-like place that exists outside of space and time itself.” The monk nodded sullenly. “Yes… ‘Tis was a wonderful place, before the fog came.” I waved my hands to shut him up. “Okay, no exposition. Just lead me to the magical space-time place filled with zombies. …jeez. That was a sentence I’d never thought I would say.” The monk took me by the hand, and he led me to the others. The other monks all stared at me with a strange look in their eyes. I looked at each of them cautiously as they examined me. “Okay, how do I get to the City?” I asked with a quiver in my voice. “Like this…” One of the monks said, and he closed his eyes, concentrating incredibly hard. He waved his hands, creating a swirling vortex to the City. One of monks handed me a ring. “If you need to get back, just press the gem on this ring.” He said. I looked around and saw that the monks were staring at me expectantly. Without another word, I sucked in a deep breath, and jumped through the portal, into the unknown. Part Two: The City of Brass I woke up on what felt to be a warm, metallic floor. My eyes snapped open, and I quickly got up. Looking around at the brass coating nearly everything, I realized that the City of Brass truly lived up to its name. Except for the occasional river of molten lava, it looked nice. There was no sight of a fog or zombies, but this must be what humans called “The calm before the storm.” I gripped my pentagram pendent necklace tightly, and hoped that I would not have to use it again. There was a sudden growl, and I whipped around to see a lumbering human staggering towards me. ''Obviously, this must be a “zombie.” ''I thought to myself. It looked sulky, and it spoke in a monotone voice. “Who… are… you?” I craftily thought of a way around this guy, and I replied in a similar voice. “I am… Turley the Kobold… I am new…” The zombie man cocked his head, trying to think with what little brain cells he had left. His expression slowly turned from one of confusion, to one of a sudden realization. He lifted a boney, skeletal finger, and screeched. Before I could think of a non-violent solution to this, my instincts took over, and I swept his legs out from under him, before knocking him to the ground with a well-placed punch to the head. I could hear the sounds of running feet coming my way, so I immediately took off. I ran through the alleyways of the city, hiding from the horde of zombies aiming to tear me apart. I grasped my pendent, and thought about using it. ''No. Not now. Save the demon strength for when you really need it. ''However, I could use it for something else. I spoke to it in a hushed whisper. ''Auxilium, Daemonium. Da mi scientia. ''Demonic whispers flooded my mind, as I finished the request. ''What is it that you seek, Kobold? '' “Anything to help me get through the crowd of zombies waiting to tear my head off.” I replied. The whispers subsided for a bit, before they returned. ''There is a half empty potion of invisibility in a house a few dozen meters away, but you’ll have to make a break for it. ''I nodded, and ran like hell. There weren’t any zombies in my path, except for a few stragglers milling about that didn’t notice me. I snuck up to the house, and looked for a way in. The house looked abandoned, with the doors and windows boarded up. I found a slightly opened window on the east side, and carefully opened it the rest of the way, edging myself through. Once inside, I looked around. It was a very nice house, with two sets of stairs, one leading upwards to the attic, and another leading down to a basement. I went to the kitchen, and began to look for the potion. Finding only a few loafs of stale bread and some water; I went upstairs to the attic. After several minutes of looking, I growled in frustration. The only things I managed to accrue was a coil of rope and a dagger-like knife. “I thought you said there was a potion here!” I said in a sharp whisper. ''I did not lie to you. There is a potion in this house. You just have to look more closely. ''Taking temporary control of my arm, my demon steered me towards a cobweb-covered desk, and unlocked a darkly compartment in the bottom of it. It let my arm go, and I grabbed the potion vial inside of it. Now that I had obtained my goal, the demonic whispers faded away completely. I stepped outside of the house, no zombies in sight. Not wanting to take any chances, I gulped down the vials contents immediately. It tasted like putrid, ice-cold water, and I nearly gagged. The potion worked it’s magic almost instantly, and I was reduced to nothing except a slight shimmer. I looked around, and I saw a humongous mountain, with a gaping hole of a cave in the middle of it. ''That must be the cave that the monks were talking about. I thought. And without a second thought, I ran right for it. Part Three: Rip And Tear, Until It Is Done After a short run through the City of Brass, I came to the face of the mountain. Tying the rope into a lasso, I threw it around a protruding rock, and began to climb up it. The rope broke almost immediately, and I fell to the ground, landing on my rump. Muttering slight curses, I stood up, and looked for any edges I could use to climb. Finding some, I started the climb up the sheer rock wall. Reach, grab, pull. Reach, grab, pull. ''I repeated this process, and was closing in on the cave, when the invisibility wore off. Almost immediately, a gargled yell came from the City, and the horde of zombies started lumbering towards the cliff. I screamed, and climbed faster. I finally got to the cave, and looked over at the advancing horde. They weren’t very coordinated, and they were repeatedly falling of the wall, hollow crunch after hollow crunch. I laughed, and turned my attention back to the cavern. It was large. Like, really, ''really, ''large. I blinked my eyes a few times for my Darkvision to start up. When it did, I could see that there were coins and gems everywhere. I let out a happy squeal, before coming to a sudden, and terrifying realization. Only one thing in this world requires a huge living space, and a lot of treasure. ''Oh, no. ''I whispered, as the smell of Sulphur hit my nostrils. I slowly looked up, to see a gargantuan Dragon sleeping on the hoard of gold. Smoke drifted lazily out of it’s nostrils, as it slept. I carefully crept forward, trying my hardest not to- Something crunched under my foot, and i muttered out a simple "Crap." The Dragon’s eyes slowly opened, it’s bright orange irises looming out of the darkness. Then it spoke. “Who dares to disturb me, Bloodbane, king of the Shadow Dragons?” Remembering that “Here and back again” book that some fellow called “Baggins” had recently published, I squeaked out “Great Bloodbane, the mighty and ferocious, I present myself to you as Turley, the small and meek.” Bloodbane leaned down towards me, so close that I could feel his hot breath lash against me, and growled out, “Have you come here to fight me? I can smell the stench of those humans all over you.” He chuckled, a low, rumbling laugh that seemed to ricochet along the walls of the cave. “A Kobold. Have they really resorted to conning a suicide mission out of anyone they see? Or are they stupider than they look, hoping that the draconic blood in your veins will be enough?” He stood up, stretching his wings to his fullest height, and extending his talon-like claws. “You… You have a power that I sense in you. An ancient power.” He jabbed his tail in the direction of my chest. “That pendent. It has a… ''demonic ''power to it.” He chuckled. “Before I kill you, can you show me how it works?” I laughed long and hard, maniacal laughter echoing around the cave. Then I grabbed the amulet in my hand, and shouted out the command that eons of people that wore this amulet before me had shouted, to unlock the full power of it. “Rip vellere donec fiat!” Instantly, I began to change. My eyes became pitch-black, my claws became longer and sharper, and I was filled with an intense, unbridled, rage. The demon strength pendent had done its job, and I was berserk. What happened after that, I cannot tell you, for as I bull rushed the dragon, I felt myself slipping down into the darkness as the demon in the pendent took full control over me. But when I awoke some time later, I saw that the dragon had multiple chunks of flesh and scales missing from its body, one of its legs were nearly torn in half, and one of its own horns was embedded in its skull. It didn’t take a genius to know he was dead. As a looked out of the cave, I could see that a celebration was going on. ''Obviously to celebrate their new freedom. ''I thought. Turning my attention back to the hoard of treasure, I smiled to myself. ''Well, someone has to… *chuckle* take care of all this gold. ''I snatched up a burlap sack lying on the ground, and started stuffing treasure into it. When it was full, I pressed the gem on my ring. I could feel a strange tingling sensation coursing throughout my body, before I was enveloped in a flash of light. I was back on ''terra firma ''a scant second later, with the monks looking at me expectantly. “Well? Is it done?” I laughed. “The cause of your problem is dead, yes.” The monks thanked me as I strolled away, a lone wanderer. ''“Yea, as I walk through the plains in the sun of the gods, I shalt fear no-one: for my speed is great, my wits are keen, and my strength is very, very, powerful.” '' ''“Amen to that.”